Mark 10:17-22 NIV
17 As Jesus started on his
way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,”
he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus
answered. “No one is good—except God alone. 19 You know
the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you
shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud,
honor your father and mother.’”
20 “Teacher,” he declared,
“all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
21 Jesus looked at him and
loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell
everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in
heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 At this the man’s face
fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
What Pill Has Jesus Prescribed for You?
Here we have a rich, possibly young ruler, that seeks a concrete
solution to entry into the Kingdom of Heaven that he can obtain by his own works.
But we learn from Jesus, that anything that takes the place of God, must go.
Salvation CAN’T be had by DOING one or many things. Eternal
life is not given by doing. Eternal life comes from God and our relationship
with God. And to inherit eternal life is to enter God’s Kingdom. We don’t
inherit by what we do, we inherit by whose we are. And the whose we are is
something given to us by God and God alone.
Our life with God is not a list of acts we DO. Our life
with God is not brought about by our list of good things or bad things that we
DO.
In these few verses, we hear a message. Jesus teaches us to
lose our life for Him and have the Gospel or God Himself save us.
Hear and see the words of Jesus in Mark…
Mark 8:35 NIV
35 For whoever wants to save
their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the
gospel will save it.
We inherit eternal life by God lifting us up, out and away from
ourselves.
Yet this man tries to butter up Jesus with flattery. Good Teacher, he
says. Don’t let or think flattery or buttering up gets you anything. Flattery
is an addictive drug you give and an addictive drug you receive. Be careful in
the giving and be careful in the receiving. Flattery leads to many a fall in
the giving and the receiving.
Jesus even questioned the words of the man when being called Good.
Perhaps Jesus was trying to point the man to the knowledge that really good is
God. Was Jesus trying to show the man that He was God? That’s something to think
about. So, once again, be careful with flattery. Rather be truthful and caring
in giving or receiving flattery. Only God is really good.
And don’t be confused or blend Christianity into “Being Good.” This
confusion happens all the time. You see, Christian love to God and neighbor is
not the LAW we DO. No, it is the LAW made complete in Jesus.
You can be a good guy, but that doesn’t make you a disciple.
In Jesus’ day, the rabbis believed that all 613 commandments were all
important. But here, with this man; Jesus cites only the second table of the 10
Commandments, as we know them today. The second table of the 10 Commandments
are the commandments that deal with “neighbor.”
It was taught, at that time, that man should, and could, keep all 613
commandments of the day.
But, this rich man, wanted something different to do to prove his own
godliness. And here is where Jesus teaches this man and us as well. Man’s
actions are unreliable in producing perfect good in God’s sight.
We need to realize that it’s not about my works, your works, or our works,
that make us good in God’s sight. No, it’s by faith. Hear and see the words of
Paul in Galatians…
Galatians 3:24 NIV
24 So the law was our
guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith.
Jesus sees people as what they were AND what they could be.
And here in this passage, regarding the rich man, Jesus was
prescribing a unique pill to this man for his particular situation. For this
man, wealth was holding him back from discipleship and eternal life with God.
Perhaps and very likely, Jesus has a unique pill prescribed for your life as
well.
It’s a disciple that goes beyond personal good. Rather than
chasing riches, power, prestige, honor, glory, or whatever idol we make for
ourselves, a disciple is instructed here, by Jesus, to let it go to the other.
By loyalty to Jesus, and in absorption in Jesus, the disciple of Jesus lets go
of self. A true disciple is devoted to self-sacrifice to God and neighbor for the
journey of life.
As we follow Jesus we witness, how the cross came at a
great cost. Don’t deny the cost that the cross caused Jesus. As Jesus lost
himself for us on that cross, Jesus lost his “man” but not the Gospel.
How many new disciples, excited by the Gospel message of
new life, run up to Jesus, but, when they learn the cost, turn away? The cost
of the cross is real. The grace of God
came at a great price. See it and don’t deny that grace is not cheap. Yes,
grace may be free, but that definitely does not make it cheap. Jesus paid the price
for grace. Understand this.
If we be disciples, we can look to Jesus and see, as
witnessed in Hebrews 12…
Hebrews 12:2 NIV
2 fixing our eyes on
Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him
he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right
hand of the throne of God.
Jesus makes this price of grace very deep for Himself, very
costly for Himself, yet the price of the disciple will be personally small as
compared to what God has done for you and me and all people through Jesus,
life, suffering, death, resurrection and ascension.
As is witnessed here, Jesus didn’t even promise eternal
life even if the rich man sold his all. Jesus only promised the rich man
treasure in heaven. To live, we must toss away what “hinders.” Remember Jesus
telling his disciples to not “hinder” the little children from coming to Him? That goes for children and disciples. Jesus
calls us out of ourselves, Jesus calls us away from whatever we idolize, to
toss all of that away, and follow Him.
Why would we follow Jesus?
Jesus offers friendship and a lifetime of development in relation
to God and with God.
Why? Back to the children image… here is a reading from
John 1…
John 1:12 NIV
12 Yet to all who did receive
him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become
children of God—
Jesus calls all of us, each and every day to adventure with
Him, to follow Him, with the gifts God gives us through the Holy Spirit,
through the raising of new life daily in our baptism. Remember? Can Billy come
out to play? Jesus calls each and every one of us to come out into this world
with Himself and all the saints past and present, to leave our idols behind and
follow Him in action and love for God and all those Jesus leads us to each day
of our life now and into eternity.
How are we to respond? Run! Run to Jesus and play! For
Jesus has set in our presence something eternally valuable. Witness these “kingdom
of heaven” words of Jesus from Matthew 13…
Matthew 13:45-46 NIV
45 “Again, the kingdom of
heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. 46 When he
found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought
it.
In this case, with this man, he was perfect in the “DON’Ts”
But Jesus prescribed the DO pill which would bring the ZOOM of life for this
rich man.
This is the only time in the Gospels when someone refused
to follow Jesus on Jesus’ invitation.
And finally, my week’s study led me to this possibility. Maybe
or maybe not? But maybe also, in some
way, for one of us who turns away from Jesus’ invitation to follow him at great
personal cost of something we have idolized.
Some think that maybe this rich young man turned out to be
Barnabas. Maybe? Just maybe. Barnabas was named Joseph, a rich Levite from
Cyprus. He owned land and sold that land and brought the money to the feet of
the Apostles. And… they gave Joseph and new name…. Barnabas.
If you have run from the call of discipleship because of
something you have made an idol, in this life, perhaps it’s time to think it
over. God’s grace and love and salvation are still present. Leave those idols
behind and turn to freely received the costly grace of God in Christ Jesus.
Yes, seek the LORD and live. Lord, may we count our days
and give us the wisdom to see your love and grace. May we all take care NOT to
turn away from God… today… tomorrow… and forever.
Thanks be to God!
I leave you with this YouTube music video…
“Come to Jesus” – Chris Rice
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